Home Sweet Home

I arrived back from Sarasota on Saturday night, after a week with my family. Saying goodbye to Kimberly was an amazing experience. I've learned much about my sweet niece, my family and myself over the past week and a half. It is for sure and for certain that my heart will never be the same after all I've seen and heard.

My brother Jeff created a beautiful service for his daughter. Our whole family worked like the team we are and helped sort photos and put together a lovely picture presentation for both the funeral home and the church. Kimberly was very detail-oriented when it came to her photos, (lesson learned, dear girl - and thank you!) so the job was not all that difficult. If I knew how to post it here to share, I would. After seeing it about ten times, it still brings me to tears within the first few seconds. She was so beautiful! And her life was so full! The girl did a lot of cool things in her short life.

But the best part of all happened late on Friday night. We were gathered around Jeff's dining room table, once again enjoying one of many delicious home-cooked meals (Thank you, church family and more on that in another post.) when Kimberly's cell phone went off. We had kept her phone on all through the week and Jeff was answering it, explaining what had happened to her friends. But the phone hadn't rung in awhile, so it took us all by surprise. Jeff opened it up and immediately teared up. He began to read the text message aloud. It said something like this: "Kimberly, I miss you so much! Your funeral today was so hard, but it was beautiful. I want you to know that I gave my heart to the Lord during the service. I will always love and miss you."

This came from one of the girls who was with Kim the night before she died. The whole family cheered and I could see that this one message was just what Jeff needed at that moment. Thank you, LORD! Please pray for this young girl and her new faith walk. I'm trying to connect with her through Facebook, just to keep in touch, but she isn't saying much as yet.

Some of you already know of this great story from this gal She is my niece-in-law, (is that a title?) married to my precious nephew Jamas. They both flew down for the service and we had a good time getting to know her a bit better. She is one of the funniest people I've ever known and we did some serious laughing & crying together. More on that later, too! :)

The love & support I've received from my extended group of family and friends has been so touching. Thank you for your calls, cards, hugs & especially prayers. We couldn't not have done it without your caring.

My heart is so full these days, it might just burst.

Thanks.

Julianne